VAT increase to cost NHS Tayside over £400,000 extra this year

16 August 2010

Marlyn Glen said today that the increase in VAT to 20 per cent in January will cost NHS Tayside ” at least an extra £400,000 in the current financial year.”
Ms. Glen said,
” NHS Tayside will have to dig deeper into its own resources to find this money at a time when the health board is being forced to shed almost 500 posts because of demands by the Scottish Government for so-called ‘efficiency savings’.
” The increase in VAT is a regressive action that will impact harshly on NHS budgets.”
Ms. Glen said that NHS Tayside budgets also face the impact of the recent rates revaluation exercise on their business properties by the Scottish Government.
As a result, the health board’s rates bill could rise by an extra £400,000 next year to increase to £4.5 million.